How to choose the best payment provider for your global business

We have listed 8 essential criterias and all key questions that you must ask before choosing the best payment provider for your global business.

João Paulo Notini
February 22, 2022
8 min read
how-to-choose-the-best-payment-provider-for-your-global-business

Which payment provider is the best option for my business?

This can be a tricky question, especially if you are a global tech company that wants to continue expanding or just want to optimize your current operations. 

There are several payment processing companies in the market, however, not all of them are a great fit to your business. So, before making any decision that you might regret, we have listed 8 essential criterias when making your search, as well as which questions you need to ask yourself and your potential payment providers.

Payment providers for global businesses

First of all, you must bear in mind that a payment processor, or payment service provider (PSP), is a financial entity authorized to process transactions between buyers and merchants. They are responsible for verifying payment transactions using anti-fraud solutions and following standards set by credit card associations and other regulatory institutions. Despite offering reliable payment processing, their goal is allowing a business to improve the customers’ payment experience. Yet, how can they maintain the same quality of their services in different locations?

That is the problem! There are online payment solutions that are good for a specific country, but fail to act as a middleman between a merchant, acquiring banks and card networks involved in transactions when it comes to multiple locations. A great payment provider needs to connect you with other processors around the world so you can start accepting the right local payments to the region that you are expanding. 

Now, let’s see what you must take into account when choosing a partner that best suits your global business needs.

The 8 essential criterias

  1. Software Compatibility and Set-up Easiness

You can’t have an ideal partner if the payment solution you are choosing can’t be integrated into your infrastructure. There are several payment providers and some of them have solutions that were created in the ‘90s and haven’t improved much. This makes it difficult to integrate to modern business architectures, especially global operations which require much more modern and efficient softwares. 

Remember that an online payment platform must be developer-friendly and work with your CRM system as well as other softwares that you already have in place. So, for example, when implementing a payment gateway software, check if the set-up and onboarding has a decent timeline and a strong local support which includes proper trainments. The solution can’t conflict with your website’s UX and your customers must be able to select a payment method of their choice based on their country/location.

  1. Geographical Reach

Never forget to check if the payment provider you are dealing with works in the countries or regions you desire. They must be able to follow the regulations of each country, offer local payment methods, work with different currencies and support the languages you need. Furthermore, since payment settlements that take too long can be bad for your business, timing is key. You need to see how quickly you can receive your funds from sales. In the end, a payment processing company that can keep a high performance service level across all locations will be your best choice.

  1. Payment Methods

It doesn’t matter where your shopper is located, a great checkout experience starts with his/her option to choose which payment method will be used to complete the purchase. In Brazil, for example, PIX is a local instant payment method that was introduced at the end of 2020 and is currently used by more than 60% of the entire population. This has made local e-commerce giants (eg: Magalu and Americanas), as well as global players (Amazon and Shopee), accepting PIX as one of their payment methods. 

Related: How to provide the best checkout experience for your customers?

Remember that, for each country or region, there are specific payment methods, despite traditional ones. Pay attention to the ones that are emerging and are trending. You don’t need to look for a payment processing company that works +500 payment methods, but a partner that is able to offer and process the ones that you really need at the right place and highest performance.

  1. Multiple Features

The features that you need depend on your business model. If you are a global subscription business company, such as Spotifiy or Netflix, for example, you might look for a recurring billing feature. 

However, some features can be great for all global businesses. Check if your potential partner has electronic invoicing, a smart chargeback management system, different integrations (eg: API or e-commerce gateway) ways, unified reconciliation and FX operations.

  1. PCI Compliance and Fraud Prevention

Payment processing is something that demands extreme attention to fraud and other safety issues. Hence, when deciding who is going to be your next partner, always go with the one that is already PCI compliant and protects your customer’s data. Nevertheless, if considering credit card processing companies, you must see if the solution includes card tokenization and it is 3D secure – a technical standard created by VISA and MasterCard which is as known as payer authentication. 

Besides these considerations, global tech businesses are greatly exposed to fraud risks and chargeback rates are much more vulnerable. Thus, choosing a payment solution that has a top level fraud-scoring system is crucial to keep your chargeback rate healthy. 

  1. Customer Support

Look at the service level agreements in regards to the support provided if you have any issue with the platform you are choosing. Many payment processors with payment gateway solutions offer limited support for the tickets you open or emails you send. Don’t forget checking if the standard speed that it takes to solve a problem is okay for you. More so, see if the support is localized and prefer 24/7 services. This means that it needs to be given in the language you need and in the time-zone that suits your operations.

  1. Supported Devices

A payment solution that works well across different devices such as desktops, tablets and smartphones is mandatory. Yet, let’s say that being mobile optimized is even more important. Why? The rise of smartphones and alternative payment methods like digital wallets have changed the way shoppers are buying.

An example of this phenomenon is happening in Latin America

According to our Beyond Borders Research, the Latin consumer rather buys on mobile phones than desktops: almost 60% of Latin America’s e-commerce total volume was expected to come from mobile last year – a 46% increase compared to 2020, when the mobile share reached 55%. 

  1. Fees and Commercial Terms

No hidden fees! That is the golden rule when you are searching for the ideal payment processing company. You need to have a clear picture of the percentage charged per transaction, consider if it is worth what they are offering and see if it fits your budget. 

Here are a few other aspects to consider when choosing your partner:

  • Set-up fees
  • Chargeback policies and how disputes are managed
  • Currency conversion
  • Charges applied if terminating the contract earlier

Questions to ask yourself 

All the above mentioned criterias are useless to find the right partner if you don’t recognize what your global business truly needs. But, don’t worry, we can help you on that too. The following questions are good way to start this self-assessment: 

  • What countries are you aiming to optimize your operations in?
  • What countries are you aiming to enter?
  • Do you have a digital or physical good?
  • What is your average ticket?
  • Will you need recurring payments?
  • Do you need a checkout page?
  • Do you offer tailor-made services?
  • What is your budget?

Questions to ask your potential payment provider

After discovering your true needs it is time to discover what the payment processing companies that you are dealing with are able to offer. So, continue your investigation by posing the following questions:

  • Which countries/regions are they able to cover?
  • Do they enable the best local payment methods for each location?
  • What are their security requirements?
  • Can they integrate with your website platform?
  • How easy and fast is the set-up?
  • How quick can they make your funds available?
  • What is their processing time?
  • Are their solutions mobile first?
  • Do they offer 24/7 customer support?
  • What are their fees and commercial terms?
  • Do they offer additional benefits/features?
  • Are they PCI compliant? 
  • What are their antifraud tools (if any)?

EBANX – An outstanding payment provider in Latin America

We hope you have enjoyed our journey to find the best payment provider for your global business. We know that there are a lot of things to consider and, at the end, you may need to find more than one partner to achieve your goals in the countries/regions that you are targeting. 

Thus, when we talk about Latin America, you can trust on who has been in the market for a decade and truly understands how it is to process payments across multiple countries in the region by aligning safety with performance. 

EBANX has the all-in-one payment solution tailored for global tech businesses that already operate or want to expand across Latin countries. We can help you scale up exponentially under one single platform thanks to our know-how on unifying fragmented pieces of operations in different locations and ability to let you select multiple combinations of countries, products and solutions. 

Are you interested to know more? We show you!

EBANX for Retail Marketplaces

How EBANX Retail Markeplace solution works

See how our all-in-one payment solution works to boost retail marketplaces in Latin America.

João Paulo Notini
João Paulo Notini
Senior Content Marketing | Cross-Border operations at EBANX

EBANX Retail & Marketplace Solution

It’s time to enhance your retail marketplace in Latin America with a tailored approach to payments.

Report: Gaming in Latin America

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